In the last decade, cellular and other mobile telephones have evolved from tools used only by professionals for business applications to the newest must-have gadgets for teens and pre-teens. Families have begun to depend on mobile telephones as communication tools to stay in touch with their very mobile members.
Public schools and universities are struggling to provide structure and rules for the use of mobile phones so that students can use this valuable tool without interrupting classes. It is easy for a student to forget to turn off a cellular phone ringer before going into a class, or to remember to turn it off but then forget to turn it back on after school.
Existing systems to inhibit a ringer of a mobile telephone in a school or like environment use an outside device (separate from the phone) to control the operation of the phone. The outside device may comprise a device at a geographical location in which a ringer-less environment is desired (such as a hospital, a concert hall, a library or a classroom). Alternatively, a transmission tower of a wireless service provider may control whether the ringer is to be on or off based on the geographical location of the phone.